According to Credit Donkey_every year the average family spends $1,800 on school clothes a year. In the U.S, there has been an enormous debate whether or not schools should require its students to wear uniforms. Especially here at WMS. While uniforms don’t let students express themselves and show their individuality, they do prevent bullying and being picked on because of how other students might dress. With sources like KHQA ABC news saying, “It’s no secret bullies will pick on kids who are different. And the clothes kids wear make for an easy target.” It is obvious that fashion bullying has become an immense epidemic.

People of all ages have different opinions on the uniform debacle. 7th grade teacher Mrs.Rackett is a fierce advocate for uniforms. Rackett’s thoughts on uniforms are are straightforward, “I think we should have uniforms for students and for teachers. This makes everyone’s lives much easier, while also giving everyone a cleaner and neater look.” While 7th grade civics teacher Mr.Miller opposed this saying that he “does not like them because it does not give students a chance to express themselves.” 7th grade honors Language Arts teacher, Mr.Malmstrom argues that, “[he is a] firm believer that putting too much emphasis on one’s outward appearance can be a negative and the character of an individual is more important so clothes should never be the only way to express oneself.”

Nevertheless, WMS 7th grader Jilliana Solivan had similar thoughts to Ms.Rackett when it comes to uniforms, saying she is “all for uniforms”. Solivan noticed that, “A lot of girls especially in the 7th grade have started to wear extremely revealing clothes, and now time is wasted sending them to the office to get changed,with uniforms this could all be prevented though.” 6th grader Nigel Mangal says that, “uniforms are cool and interesting..”  But also said that [he] would get “tired of wearing the same thing”. So he is not for wearing uniforms in school

Although students have different perspectives on this generation, parents offer more life experience. Parents like, Mrs.Rackett who has a daughter who attends WMS who has worn uniforms in the past, “When Maddie wore a uniform it made getting ready for school in the mornings a whole lot easier. Though Mr.Miller, father to a student in elementary school, says that his daughter wore a uniform when she was in kindergarten and went to private school, “Now she doesn’t. She likes public school and part of that was uniforms.”

Teachers at WMS conveyed a similar opinion that the entire district should be a united front when it comes to the uniform dilemma. Spanish teacher, Mr. Salinas was on the “Uniform board” when the districts had uniforms 10 years ago at WMS. Mr. Salinas said that he is “for uniforms” because most of the students today have excessively ripped jeans or absurdly “showy” clothes. He also said he thinks that there are many “grey areas” in the dress code, but with uniforms, there is less of a grey area.  Salinas and the rest of administration at WMS preferred uniforms, but it was the other schools in the district that couldn’t get on the “same board.” Mr. Malmstrom expressed a similar viewpoint, saying that “to have uniforms or a correctly followed dress code everyone in the district, must be on the same page.” Mr. Malmstrom also expressed that there are too many things on the dress code policy that are not enforced district-wide. He continued, explaining that because there are so many rules that are not enforced as a result of the change in time and generations of students,  “So if there are rules of the dress code that are not deemed necessary then the district should update the rules to fit the new generation of students, otherwise it should be enforced.”

Through all the research done, it is obvious that uniforms are a must at WMS. Clearly there is a desire for uniforms from teachers and students at WMS, like there was 10 years ago. Uniforms at WMS once were solid-color polo-style shirts with a collar, long or short-sleeved with capri-length pants, Bermuda length shorts, and knee length skirts for girls. This type of clothing is school appropriate and would be perfect for everyone to wear at WMS.  When researching the WMS dress code the old WMS dress code was still in the district handbook.

These are some of the best reasons provided in the handbook for uniforms, “Prepare students for future roles in the professional workplace, alleviate social pressures and discourage competition based on clothing, and quickly identify intruders.” Wearing uniforms this helps prepare students for real world instances, such as going on job interviews, or having to wear professional attire for work. With uniforms, social pressure of students clothes being “cool” enough is no longer a problem. Uniforms also help with the biggest problem in schools in the U.S; school shooters. If all students are wearing the same thing, a school shooter can be quickly identified and brought down helping to avoid fatalities.